A coffee shop that has served its Winter Park, Fla., customers for more than 30 years has reopened with a complete rebranding and a focus on in-house coffee roasting.

Barnie’s CoffeeKitchen (formerly operating as Barnie’s Coffee & Tea) recently reopened on Park Avenue. Whereas the previous business model relied on cafe retail and takeout, the new model will rely heavily on in-house roasting and cupping of premium beans, including Cup of Excellence recipients.

“This will serve as a demonstration of our care and commitment to coffee, and will give customers a better understanding and appreciation of the process,” said Barnie’s CEO and president Jonathan Smiga.

From Barnie’s:

Barnie’s CoffeeKitchen is now open on Park Avenue. The space, which for more than 30 years had operated as Barnie’s Coffee & Tea, has evolved into a new concept which includes a complete rebrand, store remodel and an entirely new business model.

Whereas the previous model was predominately focused on retail and takeout, CoffeeKitchen will serve as a community gathering place, featuring expanded seating, in-store roasting, custom brewed coffee, espresso beverages finished with latte art and a scratch-made breakfast and lunch menu.

With more than 25 years of food, beverage and retail leadership, president and CEO Jonathan Smiga strives to provide a unique, personal and memorable experience.

“It’s all about delivering a memorable guest experience that’s comfortable, delicious, healthy and of great value,” said Smiga. “If they’re not talking about it, it may as well never have happened.”

A significant part of the experience will be in-store roasting. CoffeeKitchen will roast select coffees in the store to give customers the opportunity to experience some of the best coffee in the world.

In-store roasting will mainly be reserved for rare, small lot coffees and even some coffees which have been awarded the Cup of Excellence, the most prestigious award in the coffee industry.

“This will serve as a demonstration of our care and commitment to coffee, and will give customers a better understanding and appreciation of the process,” said Smiga.

To further help customers gain a better understanding of coffee, CoffeeKitchen offers the nation’s largest assortment of brewed to order coffees, with more than 50 coffees to choose from. The company believes this will encourage each guest to branch out and try new coffees and not get stuck in the same routine. The ultimate goal is to help people gain a better understanding and appreciation of the product.

CoffeeKitchen understands the selection process can be overwhelming. To assist customers in the selection process, the company has created a new way of categorizing coffee by mood states: comfort, intrigue and robust, rather than following common industry identifiers such as roast level or growing region.

“Our approach allows the guest to find a coffee to satisfy their craving for something comforting, intriguing or robust,” said Smiga. “We do this naturally with other food and beverages all the time – depending on their mood, they chose a style of food or glass of wine to compliment many emotional factors. Coffee should be no different. We have expanded on this approach in our packaged coffees for grocery, office coffee and food service with great success.”

The company will remodel all existing corporate locations to accommodate the new model by mid-next year, with the addition of one new location at CityArts Factory in Downtown Orlando, slated for later this year.

About Barnie’s CoffeeKitchen(TM):

Barnie’s® Coffee & Tea Company was founded in 1980 and adopted the name Barnie’s CoffeeKitchen(TM) in September of 2011. Under the leadership of President/CEO Jonathan Smiga, the Orlando, Florida based company is committed to innovating the southeast coffee market and inspiring consumers to elevate their expectations surrounding coffee. The company offers more than 50 hand-selected varietal, flavored and decaffeinated coffees, many of which are single origin, Fair Trade, Organic or Rainforest Alliance certified. Barnie’s CoffeeKitchen has six Central Florida locations, an e-commerce and wholesale division which services distribution, grocery and office coffee partners. For more information, visit www.barniescoffee.com

Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. Feedback and story ideas are welcome at publisher@dailycoffeenews.com.